Analyze This!

By Roger Weise.

Line and Space

Since reading this weeks learning unit for Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 I have been really noticing how all the keywords and concepts relate to everyday life. I was driving up to Auburn and you know once you are past Sierra College Boulevard it starts to go uphill, well I thought this was a great example of linear perspective. (I did try to take a picture with my camera phone...BUT bad bad idea when driving, so I found one online.) I mean everyday we are driving on the road whether it be day or night. I thought that it clearly showed parrallel lines that eventually do converge at a point on the horizon line. And when you look at the cars you see that some of them do overlap giving you the perception of depth, and as the cars are farther back in the picutre they recede in size. Or when you are in downtown Sacramento and you are standing on the sidewalk next to one of the "sky-scrapers", have you ever noticed the same idea with the windows??? All parrallel lines that converge at one point, they recede in size as they are farther from your sight, and they dont neccessarily overlap but from your own knowledge you can percept a certain amount on depth!!

I think that a contour line can be found when you look at just about anything. Its just a matter of how you percieve it. Contour lines give any object shape and volume. When I look at the door in my room I can see the contour lines that give it the shape and volume. I think that with all these new key terms swarming around in my head that the world and my surroundings are becoming more visually interesting, I can be making dinner now and the idea of how the lines and shapes of the pots and pans or the boxes of the items I am using relate to the art world. And when I look into my closet in the morning how I could sit back and see how the contour lines made by my clothing effect my perception of my closet and the clothes found within it. Pretty freaky if I can say so myself, I just never really thought about anything that way. And I think that when becoming an artist and having to use contour lines to for artwork is something you would think to be hard but as it turns out it isn't; just becomes a matter of knowing how to create the best visual effect.

Sorry sideways but it wont let me change it...SNIFFLE.

Controversial Art

The idea of controversial art is astounding. The specific controversies that stood out in my mind would have to be The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili and Sleepwalker by Eric Fischl. Thanks to the articles provided by professor Pacansky-Brock I had the opportunity to understand more into the ideas of interpretation and judgment. As a society we tend to believe that our lives our “perfect” or we tend to shy away from the idea wrong-doing is happening under our noses. We stand for what we believe to be the truth even if we have no clear evidence. With the paintings done by Ofili and Fischl we are forced to look back at ourselves, questioning what is wrong or question why we are having the thoughts or assumption we have reached about the artwork. For most people they do not have the chance to take an art class that reminds us not to jump to a conclusion based upon someone else’s beliefs; instead we begin to take someone’s interpretation as our own.
Controversial art forces to look within ourselves, making us yearn to know more or hear more about the current situation and why it is so upsetting to some. I love that my interpretation of either pieces of art could be considered controversial, but I have not seen either pieces in person, been able to take in size, color vividness, or any aspects as some might have. Benefits of controversial art are constantly being recognized, interpretation and judgment are two things that can change the more we observe art. Take Mayor Giuliani’s automatic response to Ofili’s artwork, without even seeing the piece in person he concluded it had to be sacrilegious since it did not fit his standards of what the Virgin Mary should look like or be seen as; or the person who wrote a letter to a local newspaper saying that he knew exactly what the Virgin Mary looked like and that painting was not it. It forces us to question who is right and who is wrong. But in the end no one is right or wrong; we can’t accurately say that the Virgin Mary was white, black, fat, thin, tall, or short. We can only confide within ourselves the idea of what type of appearance she undertook. To Ofili his depiction of the Virgin Mary was his own, he chose to share it with the world, so others may also take refuge in knowing they weren’t alone and maybe he showed the rest of the world in hopes of reminding us that we aren’t all the same and our vision of the world and everything we see is completely different and controversial. We can’t take the word of anyone without evidence; these artworks prove that we have to be able to formulate our own decisions with our own recognitions. Everywhere we turn someone is trying to censor what we see or hear, but what gives them the right or opportunity or do so? I believe that in most cases we give people like Mayor Giuliani the chance to be a vocal censor because we do not question him based upon our terms.
Fischl’s work allows us to be face to face with promiscuity in a sense, we are forced to look within ourselves and our lives to dig out deep thoughts we believed wrong or the ideas we hide or deemed unrealistic. His artwork made us face our demons in many senses, the pasts we denied even though they were right in front of our face. Looking at his work even on a computer screen it makes me think back to the times I used to block from my memory, when I was 9 or so and my biological mother had me sleeping in a car, because she had used all the rent money for drugs once again. But I would never admit to myself or anyone else that she was a drug addict no matter how bad the times were or how much I was in pain.
There are so many benefits to controversial artwork. Allowing us to see that someone else may feel exactly the same as we do, so we can “vent” into a painting, sculpture, drawing, or picture. Seeing a piece of Fischl’s work I believe that I could walk away feeling better about my past situations. His works force us to see what is wrong with not only our lives but the lives of others, without holding judgment if we can help it. Our interpretation of his work can be drastically different then the next person who looks at it, all due to our previous experiences and belief systems. Controversial art allows us the freedom to express ourselves through our own interpretations.
Imagine if all art was conformed and the standards every artist was held to be enveloped. The world might lose an important opportunity to get across independent, social, or political beliefs. I think if art was predetermined, it would be in a sense telling us to all bite our tongues. Art is an expression of self, allowing openness for interpretation and connectivity. Taking that away would surely conform most of the world, but who wants to be told how to live their lives and told how to express your happiness, sadness, hatred, love, and any of your beliefs no matter how different or alike from the “majority” of the world. I think it would be impossible for art to be cased or held back from the public view. Each day we step outside we have the opportunity to witness more art, even art that is deemed “tagging” hasn’t been able to be conformed, everywhere we turn there is something else added to the world as we see it. We can’t ask writers to stop writing everything they feel, so how we can we ask artists to stop creating art through their raw emotions. That would no longer be considered art, but something created with restrictions and constraints to feed what other people believe we should see, so they are censoring our lives.
After focusing my time on the art work for this week and the topic of controversial artwork, interpretation and judgment I learned that my ideas are my own. I feel that I need to make sure not to believe in someone or something without finding evidence for myself. I also learned not to judge anything, especially artwork without truly thinking about why the artist made it, and to interpret it to my own standards and not to anyone else’s belief. I am waiting for others to post about this topic and see if others are feeling the same way that I do, which I hope there are some. But overall my reaction to the artwork was my own, I believe after reading the articles it better helped me understand that controversial artwork has many benefits to help create different meanings and interpretations, that peoples judgment often clouds their response. I am happy knowing when I take a look at anything done by Ofili, Fischl, or any artist for that matter I can formulate my own unique response and judgment.

Visual Literacy Reflections

This week while reading chapter 2 the vocabulary really helped me in understanding what I was looking for while trying to decode the artwork we were exploring. From Art 1A I began to understand form and content, but no offense to Professor Pacansky-Brock..I didn't really focus or understand the work I was looking at. I think because there was so much going on that semester. But knowing the form of representation was a huge change for me. At times I would look at a non-objective image and believe it was abstract. Being able to understand exactly what kind of artwork the artist is creating helps in being able to interpret and create my own analysis. Along with understanding what the artist is trying to convey. There was a lot to chew in this lecture but I think that I was able to understand everything and how it is related to art. The images that were provided in the lecture and throughout the chapter probably did the best job at explaining what I was reading and how it was all related. Plus I think I bugged the teacher with enough emails to last her a lifetime. Seriously between this class and my anatomy class I can only think in anatomical terms and artistic terms!!!! MY BRAIN IS IN A FRYING PAN at the moment.

But at least for the moment when I look at a work of art I will be able to remember the literal terms that are related to art...and not anatomy I hope. Or I can just mix them together, "The linking of the digits in the iconographic artwork done by Jan van Eyck, 'The Arnolfini Marriage' is a representation of........!" OR "the placement of the womans brachium during this era might lead us to suspect that the content found is....!" I think I found my right mixture of mojo there!

But the one image that stood out in my mind in this chapter would have to be by Lorna Simpson, She. For me her use of language along with body language and photographs was a good mixture. Exploring what this artwork could mean was fun, once I knew some more vocabulary. To me this image represents an aspect of women's rights, a way for her to take a stand and say that women are just as good as a men, in all categories. This isn't that old of an image, but it was still in a time when women were finding their place in certain areas of business and in the world...women fighting to make a stand against the stereotypes held before them. I honestly can't express how much I love her use of body language in these images, "manly". I just find it so intriguing!

A World of Art

While reading and exploring chapter one, I was intrigued and completely awe-struck by the Spiral Jetty found in Great Salt Lake, Utah by Robert Smithson. For me this photograph, no matter what angle it was taken from had a deeper meaning that I could see. I was so intrigued before I finished reading the chapter I looked up more angles online. And it also amazed me that such a man made earthwork could be so beautiful and appealing. Once I saw the picture of the Spiral Jetty I really just wanted to go out and see it for myself. To better understand the size of this artwork there would have to be someone standing or walking along the spiral.

I love the ocean or water, so this for me was the one picture that stood out in my mind. I love the way that the background seems so far away. The spiral reminds me of being confused and hectic. It reminds you that life is crazy, the water found within the spiral and outside of it is murky and dirty, to me signifying that sometimes not everything can be beautiful and perfect, but just beyond the murkiness, off to the side of the picture you see bluer water, as to say that once you beat through all the hard times and dirt or muck you encounter there is something brighter and better just beyond your sights. For this to be in a natural setting in the middle of what seems like an impossible place to be, the spiral gives me hope that I am the one standing out just beyond everyone else, like they are standing atop the hill waiting for me to figure out life and where to go. The hill is a representation that there is life waiting, and not everyone is pushing through at the same pace or under the same circumstances. It almost gives me the feeling of someone judging me, if I were the spiral, waiting for something else to happen. But I am able to see the blue water and I am not willing to fail. This is a beautiful picture and can be taken many ways, yet for me it gives me hope that each day is going to be hard and I am going to get down, murky and dirty yet I will have the opportunity to pick myself back up and move forward. Each day brings its own beauty, sometimes the beauty comes and goes, and to me that is represented by knowing the area can and probably will flood, we may drown and fall a few times, but we will always rise again to something even more incredible, a new day.

SOLDIERS....

(FOCUS MAINLY ON THE PICTURE TO THE TOP LEFT....the others are just deeper, easier to understand representations)
To most this is a sad picture, knowing that a soldier has died! But for me it's become more than that, I used to see this image and look at it a second, think "what a shame", and now I look at it and can't help but start to cry. After Lecture 1 and Chapter 1 I understand..



As most of you may know I have a fiancee in Iraq, to me this image means he may not be coming home. The helmet, gun, and boots were once worn by a soldier who was supposed to return home to his family and friends, yet now it stands as a memorial to honor him and his sacrafice. This picture I view as a work of art; representing the loss and change of not just one person or family, but of this country and the world. Each passing day reminds us that our life is not gauranteed, nor is it promised. There are men and women fighting for a country they believe in, willing to leave everything they know and love behind. I have been living without my fiancee for a year now, and I still have 2 more to survive. In 2 years everything can change, just like the picture! The boots are a representation of a soldier who no longer will wear them, a helmet that can no longer be placed onto his head, and a gun he used to defend himself and us from harm he can no longer use. None of these things made the person who wore them, but they made the person who died in them. They become unspoken heroes, we may never know exactly whose feet were in those boots before they sacraficed all. Yet somehow, in the last seconds of thier life we know they were strong and brave. Looking at the picture now I know somewhere in the world someone is missing them and continually loving the soldier who died in those boots.
My fiancee may not come home, circumstances that are out of my control may led to this situation. But I know that if that happens, there will be a memorial made just for him like above, and I will know who those boots belonged too and how incredibly loved they were. I can honestly say that before I met my fiancee this imagine made little impact in my daily life, now it is etched into my memory as something that is painful to see, but also something that makes you proud to know that somewhere, there is someone fighting particularly for me. And because of this war I may lose all as well. I may never have that walk down the isle, or the two children we always talked about, the dream house we made plans to build, I could lose it all in a blink of an eye. The image above means more than most of you may ever feel, but I understand now that we are all different and that our lives change drastically. This image is a reminder to me my life and everything I love is on the line.
I hope next time you walk by a memorial, or a piece of art that is dedicated to soldiers from the past or present, that you realize there are some of us out there who are waiting patiently for that soldier.

About ME....

Currently I am TRYING to be patient while I am waiting for my fiancee to get back from Iraq, he left on April 8th, 2008 (the day of his birthday). I have been through alot in a little time!!! Picking myself back up right now from all the things that tried to bring me down. I am hoping to finish at Sierra College within a year from now. Going to school and taking care of my elderly grandmother before she passed was hard so I took a total of a year and a half off. This class is my first FUN class since being back in school. I am trying to think of what else to say, my favorite color in pink, I was a lifegaurd at Sunsplash for 3 years, and I am a complete goof I like to have fun with everything I am doing. I am learning that there is no point in focusing on the negative when there is so much positive in the world. If there is anything else you would like to know about me....ASK...I feel like there is alot I want to say but don't know what else to say!!!!